♪The white sail came too late♪
♪Where did he go?♪
♪Snow veils the mountains♪
♪Love endures beyond life and death♪
♪A black chess piece♪
♪Whose game did he stumble into?♪
♪All his life, there's no escape♪
♪In ten thousand years, what will still remain?♪
♪Will anyone still love with an unchanging heart?♪
♪I will remember♪
♪Those days long past♪
♪As the wind drifts with the white sail♪
♪Ten thousand years ago♪
♪Did you once walk this shore?♪
♪Why can't our bond be severed in this life?♪
♪I am lost yet willing♪
♪Still I love you with a steadfast heart♪
♪Until all things fade away♪
♪The stars will remember us♪
[Love & Crown]
[Adapted from the novel "My Queen" by Xie Lounan]
[Episode 29]
Do you think
I won't kill you?
That's for Your Highness
to decide.
I only remember
that Her Highness loved the world beyond the palace.
She wanted to leave and see the flower fields.
I didn't want her to have any regrets.
Bring her back
in two hours.
♪The cold breeze dissipates♪
♪The flying snow♪
♪Leaving no traces of it♪
♪On the desolate ridgeline♪
♪Lies buried♪
♪The legend of the setting sun♪
♪Gently, you came♪
♪Gently♪
♪We loved with all our hearts♪
♪And gently, we fell into the flames♪
♪When our story♪
♪Is sung again in spring...♪
I've returned.
I've brought you to see the flower fields.
[Qing]
[Ying]
Li Hongqing,
I'm glad
I found you.
♪The cold breeze dissipates♪
♪The flying snow...♪
Do you feel the same?
Can you really take me out of the palace?
Can we travel the rivers and mountains,
see the fields of flowers?
♪When our story♪
♪Is sung again in spring♪
♪May tomorrow's homeland♪
♪Be awash in morning light♪
♪Sleepless wind and frost♪
♪Stir awake♪
♪The last faint glow♪
♪You ask me♪
♪If I've lived out♪
♪The dreams of childhood♪
♪Who has passed this way♪
♪Burned bright in youth♪
♪And dared without fear♪
♪Across the fairest starry sky?♪
♪When our story...♪
Look, Your Highness.
♪May tomorrow's homeland♪
♪Be awash in morning light...♪
Why didn't you wait for me?
Why couldn't you have waited just a bit longer...
♪When our story♪
♪Is sung again in spring♪
♪May tomorrow's homeland♪
♪Be awash in morning light♪
[Blessings and Fortune]
Ying,
when you were little,
you were born round and chubby.
I loved holding you close to me
in my arms.
Your big eyes
would sparkle at me,
smiling.
Your Majesty,
Preceptor Du requests an audience.
I've heard about Princess Ying.
Please accept my condolences.
I've copied scriptures for Princess Ying.
I pray she ascends to bliss swiftly.
I didn't expect you
to come to my Xuanguang Hall of your own accord.
I'm merely grieving
for Her Highness.
I heard
Her Highness was regaining her senses.
But after Your Majesty's visit,
she passed away.
My Ying
was always improving and relapsing.
I never thought
His Majesty would cause her death.
I understand.
Your Majesty had no choice.
You didn't want Ying to suffer longer in this world.
I don't understand
what
you mean.
The late Emperor died suddenly,
followed by the fire at Luling Palace,
leaving Princess Ying deranged.
Her life
has been full of hardship.
What exactly brings you
here today?
Since my youth,
I've served at His Majesty's side.
I wanted to serve
a wise ruler who could bring hope
to Great Qi.
Indeed.
You've always been loyal to him.
But now I no longer wish to be.
I want to help you
eliminate your real threat.
I intend to aid the Prince of Yuzhang
in seizing the throne.
Why?
Perhaps it's because
I've been betrayed.
You give everything to someone,
yet he drifts further away
for an unworthy cause.
Disappointment turns
to hatred over time.
Then, hatred festers
until you want him gone.
Surely, you must know
that feeling.
I don't understand
your intentions.
Do you know what you're saying?
Unless you do this,
the Prince of Yuzhang's heart
will always be with his brother.
You'll never win it back.
You must fan the flames of his resentment toward His Majesty.
Turn the brothers against each other
unto death.
Only then will he fight for the throne.
Princess Ying's death
has lit the first fire.
But it's not enough.
What do you mean?
Does Your Majesty dare to stake your life?
I have a poison here.
Upon taking it,
one's breath
and pulse quickly cease,
plunging you into a deathlike trance
while you remain fully conscious.
The antidote
will revive you in moments from that sham death.
This slice of ginseng
has been pre-soaked in the antidote.
You can have a trusted aide
brew it into tea
afterward,
or hold it under your tongue
before you take the poison.
The toxin
will clear
after 48 hours.
Do you think me
so easily deceived?
Please choose one, Your Majesty.
Fortune favors the bold.
No victory comes
without risk.
Coming here to pledge allegiance
means
I've burned my bridges.
The antidote
is right here.
Only you and I
are present.
If you doubt me,
don't save me.
Fortune favors the bold.
No victory comes
without risk.
It's time to take the gamble.
Father!
Your Majesty, what brings you here?
Physician Li,
didn't you send word to the palace
that my father showed signs of waking?
Me?
I...
I don't recall...
Oh, no.
It's Xiao Huan.
Something has happened in the palace.
The Imperial Father-in-law has awakened!
Father.
You're awake.
Father!
Cangcang...
Yes?
What is it?
Preceptor Du...
Preceptor Du?
He knew Preceptor Du was the mastermind,
so he arranged to draw me away from the palace.
Cangcang...
Entrusting the jade seal to you
was his way
of ensuring your survival
and leaving
his last spark of hope.
He won't succeed.
I vowed
I'd stand or fall with him.
I can make it.
Xiao Huan,
wait for me.
I'm sorry.
For some reason,
I felt I had to say that to you.
Qianqing.
Why are you here?
Ying's cause of death is unclear.
Regardless of what happened,
I can't let her die without answers.
I must investigate.
Her cause of death is unclear?
Weren't you the one who killed her?
If she truly died because of me,
I won't
deny it.
Don't bother.
I hate myself
for ever agreeing to let you
remove the poison from Ying.
I should have taken her from this palace,
from this wretched place.
Ying's death is on our hands,
you and I.
Xiao Qianqing,
calm yourself and think this through.
Doesn't Ying's death seem suspicious?
Do you want even her death
exploited?
Suspicious?
Elaborate.
She was nearly cured,
then this happened out of the blue.
Think harder.
Maybe someone
didn't want her to regain her wits.
Lies!
My Ying passed without finding peace.
Qianqing,
look at your sister.
How can you be shaken by a few words
from him?
Mother,
he has no reason to kill Ying at all.
You forgot.
Ying caused him to lose his child.
The Empress's first child.
Do you really believe
he had no reason to harm Ying?
I've said
I won't pursue it.
One can bide one's time for the right opportunity to seek vengeance.
Your schemes run deeper than the sea.
Qianqing,
will you never understand?
No.
We grew up together.
Though he's cunning,
he is not that sort of man.
My foolish son.
How can you be so innocent as to believe
in brotherhood and sincerity
within these palace walls?
There's nothing to gain
from him killing Ying.
Gain?
Ling Xuefeng already made him wary.
He fears more palace unrest,
another upheaval.
He only wants to eliminate opponents.
He claims Ying's death
was meant to incriminate someone.
Surely it's aimed at implicating me.
He already took out Ling Xuefeng.
Now, it's my turn.
You'll be next.
We will all become sacrifices
to his consolidation of power.
Empress Dowager Liu,
stop weaving tales.
Trust me.
He only wants to find the mastermind.
The mastermind?
Who?
He is the mastermind!
He killed Ying!
Qianqing...
Qianqing,
would you rather trust him
than me?
Ying.
Your brother
distrusts and defies me
utterly.
I might as well
join you among the departed.
Mother!
Mother, what did you take?
Mother!
Qianqing,
you've grown distant
as you matured.
But everything I do
is for you.
You may not believe me,
but remember,
here in this palace,
all seek power and gain.
Even if you refuse to contend,
your foes will never spare you.
Do not...
Do not
be deceived
by him again...
Mother...
Mother!
Mother...
Are you satisfied now?
Is this what you wanted?
From now on,
my mother will no longer vex your eyes.
My sister will no longer
scheme to assassinate you.
Are you happy now?
Qianqing.
So all this,
including the mastermind,
was you all along!
It was all you!
Xiao Qianqing,
have you lost your mind?
[Yaoqing Hall]
[Heaven and Earth]
Madam,
the Prince of Yuzhang has made a move against His Majesty.
This day has finally come.
Ms. Yan.
Yes, Madam.
You've always called my mother's life fragile as paper.
You're afraid love will destroy me
as it did her.
See here.
My lifespan is long enough now, isn't it?
Madam...
Rest assured.
I will no longer let affections dictate my life.
I will sever
all these ties.
My destiny rests with me, not the heavens.
My only love
is for myself.
If heaven refuses me,
I will defy it!
[Nanrong Palace]
Is this a rebellion?
Your Majesty is correct.
Today,
we rebel.
Du Tingxin.
It's you indeed.
You betray me?
I once served Your Majesty
with loyalty.
Yet,
you have deeply disappointed me.
You're the one
behind Ling Xuefeng.
What are you saying?
I fail
to understand.
Report!
Preceptor Du,
we've searched the entire palace.
The Empress is not here.
You let Ling Cangcang escape!
Relay my orders.
Should the Empress return,
kill her on sight.
Understood.
Du Tingxin,
you dare!
I have already rebelled.
Why should I balk at one more death?
Kill him!
Stop!
He is the Emperor of Great Qi.
You cannot kill him on a whim.
Prince of Yuzhang,
he has betrayed you so.
Don't you want his life?
My sister died.
My mother died to prove her cause.
Killing him outright
would be too easy on him.
Take His Majesty away to rest.
Prince of Yuzhang,
I'm helping you.
Helping me?
All these years, your fealty was to Xiao Huan.
Yet now you turn to aid me instead?
I am the Imperial Preceptor.
I serve Great Qi.
My loyalty is not to one man,
nor just to Xiao Huan.
But to the world,
to Great Qi.
I choose
to support Your Highness's ascension.
Do you think
I would trust a madwoman?
I have never
sought the throne.
You will want it.
Your brother,
the current Emperor,
slaughtered Princess Ying
and drove the Empress Dowager to despair,
all to secure his throne.
If he desires the throne so,
why not take it from him?
When you become Emperor,
watch how remorseful
your brother will be.
That will be justice served.
Why?
Why do you revolt then?
If you wish to ally with me,
I must know why.
Or how can I trust you?
Why do I rebel?
He gave Ling Cangcang
the remedy meant to save himself.
His very life I wrested from death's grasp,
tending cauldrons through endless nights,
testing remedies,
needling meridians without respite!
If he won't cherish his life,
then I must be the one to destroy it.
You truly are a pitiful lunatic.
Indeed.
Thus, I can no longer indulge in such affections.
Either way,
I no longer deserve to.
On the day my mother and Ying are laid to rest,
I want Xiao Huan to die as penance.
But until then,
I want him alive.
Very well.
It shall be as you wish.
[Lingquan Palace]
Leave us.
Your Majesty.
I know you can hear me.
That's why I'm here
to speak with you.
You've always known who I truly am.
You've never received the late Emperor's love,
so you refuse
to let any woman he favored live.
My mother had to be sacrificed.
Isn't that right?
The truth is, the poison I gave you
won't truly take effect
for three days.
By then,
you'll already be sealed in your lavish coffin.
Mother,
rest easy.
I'll reclaim everything this world owes me,
piece by piece.
If heaven and earth reject me,
so be it.
[Xuanguang Hall]
[Spirit tablet of Empress Dowager Liu of Great Qi]
Kneel.
[Spirit tablet of Empress Dowager Liu of Great Qi]
Prince of Yuzhang,
pardon my impertinence.
But
where lies Princess Ying's remains?
Why is Her Highness not given a funeral and interment in the Imperial Mausoleum?
This defies all custom.
I despise your prattle of rites and tradition
while meddling where you don't belong,
cloaked in false virtue.
Ying spent her life
confined in the cold palace.
When did you ever treat her
as a princess?
Now that she's freed at last,
you all suddenly remember her title.
When she was alive, she languished in the cold palace.
In death,
must she be trapped in the Imperial Mausoleum too?
His Majesty has been
in indisposition.
As Your Highness
handles state affairs in his stead,
you should tread carefully and uphold rites above all.
Rites?
What rites
do you speak of?
Please grant Her Highness the proper rites befitting her title,
and bury her swiftly.
To heck with them!
Your Highness...
Minister Ding, how fortunate you must be that your family boasts
four generations under one roof.
If you've never known the grief of losing kin,
I can arrange for you to experience it now,
so you shall never spout
such utter nonsense again!
I...
You all enjoy fatherly piety,
filial children,
and family bliss.
So why can't you allow one departed princess
her ascent to heaven?
Must you deny her peace in life
and death alike?
I know you're grieving too deeply
to hear anything now.
So I'll say just this.
I'll always be by your side.
♪Who walks lone through storm and snow♪
♪Reading every warmth and chill♪
♪Of the heart?♪
♪Who stands proud against a thousand weights♪
♪Grace only a mask he wears?♪
♪My blade sweeps the heavens♪
♪Blood once drenched♪
♪My armor and charging steed♪
♪I know what it means to let go♪
♪When to step in, when to hold back♪
♪A broken blade cuts through♪
♪Years of winter and summer♪
♪Enemy flags burn to ash like gauze♪
♪Yet my heart still bears the scars of rise and fall♪
♪I'm willing to wield my sword with you and burn the waning moon♪
♪I'm willing to brave all storms with you, boiling with passion♪
♪I'm willing to break my wings and become the blade in your hand♪
♪I'm willing to write with you this torn, enduring page of history♪
♪I'm willing to travel thousands of miles, seeking your ambition♪
♪I'm willing to give my life to keep you safe for a lifetime♪
♪I'm willing to sing through every farewell and wait for you another thousand years♪